Pry type vacuum cover opener



' March 2, 1954 C RE 2,670,641

PRY TYPE VACUUM COVER OPENER Filed Jan. 23, 1952 Patented Mar. 2, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT: OFFICE, r

PRY TYPE VACUUM COVER OPENER Alfred Corelle, Beverly, Mass. Application January 23, 1952, Serial No. 267,795

1 Claim.

This invention comprises a new and improved opener for vacuum jars, particularly for those having a glass body and a metallic cover sealed to the body by pressure and through the medium of a gasket or the like.

In general it is the object of the invention to provide a strong and simple one-piece opener that may be produced at low cost, which may be operated with a powerful leverage action and so require little physical strength on the part of the user, which will not distort the cover nor chip the glass of the jar, which will not when used tend to spill the contents of the jar, and which will accommodate itself to jars of all commercial sizes.

Going more into detail, the opener of my invention comprises an integral piece of steel rod or heavy stiff wire bent into triangular contour and having in one side an open space between two opposed flattened ends of the rod which lie in a common plane and with the other two sides of the opening lying in a plane at approximately 30 with respect to the plane of the flattened ends; each flattened end having an elongated inner fulcrum gauge finger and an adjacent outer lever shoulder. In using the opener the fulcrum gauge fingers are brought into engagement with the throat of the jar which is usually defined by an annular rib. Thus a firm support is provided for the fulcrum fingers and the adjacent lever shoulder is located beneath the rim of the metal cap. The user has now only to depress the elevated end of the opener whereupon the lever shoulders are raised with a powerful leverage action and the cover is forced upwardly out of engagement with the body of the jar.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a plan view of the opener in full size with dot and dash lines indicating its operative position with respect to a vacuum jar,

Fig. 2 is a corresponding view in side elevation,

Fig. 3 is a corresponding rear elevation,

Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are fragmentary plan, side and end views of one end of the opener shown on an enlarged scale, and

Fig. 7 is a view in vertical section of a jar with a beaded rim and showing a cap in partially removed condition.

The opener may be formed by bending a straight piece of steel rod or heavy Wire about A" in diameter into substantially triangular contour as shown in Fig. 1. The opener has sides l0 and II which merge into each other at one apex of the triangle and which, in turn, merge respectively into the end portions l2 and 13. The end portions are separated by a space which should be somewhat less than the effective diameter of the smallest size vacuum jar that will be encountered. The ends are symmetrically flattened by swaging or otherwise and the flattened ends lie in a common plane. Each end is provided with an inner gauge fulcrum finger M of reduced width and an outer lever shoulder I 5. The lever or prying shoulders [5 are spaced apart a somewhat greater distance than the fulcrum and gauge fingers M. The sides l0 and II of the opener are bent so that they make an angle of approximately 30 with the plane of the flat end portions, and these end portions are symmetrically located with respect to each other.

In Fig. l the outer diameter of the jar or of the shoulder which defines its throat is indicated by the dot and dash circle I6, the outer cylindrical surface of the throat is indicated by the dot and dash circle l1, and the inner diameter of the throat by the dot and dash circle I8.

In using the device the flat ends are located in the horizontal plane as suggested in Fig. 3 and then pressed against the throat of the jar until they engage its cylindrical wall and rest upon the shoulder or rib of the jar as suggested in Fig. 1. This brings the oppositely disposed lever shoulder l5 under the rim of the metal cover which usually is of about the same diameter as the body of the jar. The user is now in position to depress the outer end of the opener, and in doing this the two lever shoulders l5 are moved upwardly with a great leverage advantage. In using the illustrated opener the leverage advantage of the shoulders 15 is about 10 to 1. Fig. 7 shows how the gauge fingers l 4 and the adjacent cut-outs permit the device to be utilized so as to avoid chipping of the beaded rim N5 of the jar by the lifting or lever shoulders I 5. The result is that the cover is forced off the jar smoothly, without deformation, and with no tendency to spill the contents of the jar. Since the cover is not damaged in this way, it may be replaced and sealed in place by the mere application of sufficient pressure to spring it back into its original condition.

Having thus disclosed my invention and described in detail an illustrative embodiment there- 3 of, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

An opener for vacuum jars, comprising an integral piece of steel rod bent into triangular contour and having in one side an open space between two opposed flattened ends of the rod which lie in a common plane, and with the other two sides lying in a plane at approximately 30 with respect to the plane of said flattened ends, each flattened endhaving an elongated fulcrum gauge finger of reduced width and an adjacent lever shoulder, said lever shoulders being spaced apart across said open space a greater distance than the fulcrum gauge fingers.

ALFRED CORELLE.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 

